the expert economy

Strategy course

Naomi Johnson

Expert Economy Founder

Introduction

When it comes to building a business as a self-employed entrepreneur, I think there is little doubt that LinkedIn is a valuable tool for building influence and attracting new prospects to our business.

The question is though, how do you do it?

With so many training courses on the market these days, there is probably little variety in the advice provided. It’s the normal rhetoric. However, one strategy most certainly doesn’t fit all.

“When it comes to marketing, one size does not fit all.”

And when it comes to the being an entrepreneur who works alone, either because you are just starting out or because you’ve designed it to be that way, time is limited.

We don’t have huge marketing budgets to mess around with, time to waste on social media or the innate skills to market our businesses with the finesse we might like.

Instead, we are experts in our own profession. We are passionate about and one, we believe, is worth the risk of branching out into the business world alone. We’ve stepped out into the own known and created our own business. We bill our clients directly and we’re responsible for finding each new assignment.

Its fun and excilerating . We get to do what we love all day long – or do we?

In my experience, it doesn’t take long before most Experts discover that winning new business isn’t so easy and there is a steep steep learning curve to master what is required to keep winning business in a sustainable way.

“What we don’t want is to get distracted by marketing and become so consumed with the constant need for new business that we take our eyes off the ball and stop spending time at the coal face with our clients, building our skills and retaining our expert status.”

Instead, we want:

to set in motion a strategy that will allow us to find ideal clients who know they have a problem and know they want to invest in us.

a strategy that allows us to turn up the flow of leads when we need them, and turn them down when we’re fully booked

And most importantly we want it to feel natural and be something we enjoy doing, something that keeps us intrigued and fulfilled so we want to show up each day.

And what we don’t want to do is:

continually compete for business based on price

undersell ourselves or take on less than ideal assignments

get pulled into fixing problems that aren’t our specialism

become a marketing expert

or become so distracted by marketing our business we fall out of pace with our industry and are no longer cutting-edge

What’s the solution?

Ignoring traditional marketing practices. The truth is that as a lone entrepreneur many of the solutions used by bigger businesses simply won’t work. With only a limited amount of time to each week to work, we only have a limited amount of time to sell and therefore most marketing strategies require more time and money to work than you’ll be able to work to earn the money back, resulting in a negative return on investment.

As a lone entrepreneur or micro-business, you only need a certain amount of new business at any given time. But what if you could learn a method that would enable you to focus on your profession, solve meaningful problems for your clients and have new business find you effortlessly for a very low financial investment?

“As an Expert Entrepreneur our goal should be to spend 70% of our time working with clients, 20% of our time studying to remaining an expert and 10% moving all the pieces around.”

about the course

This course is more than just about a LinkedIn profile. You’ll be building (and/or reviewing) some of the most vital components within your business and working them into your profile for maximum results.

LinkedIn is one of the most prominent places to be when it comes to marketing your business and building your network. However, success depends upon a lot more than just being active. In this 8-week interactive course, we’ll be delving deep into your business to uncover the jewels that will help systemise your actions and have clients flowing into your business.

The course is designed to teach you how to get leads and what to do with them.

You will uncover exactly how to structure a sales conversation so you can confidently ask the buying question, how to build value in your network so people want to jump on a call with you, how to position yourself as THE industry expert and pitch your business in a way that makes you easy to refer.

By week 5 of the course, you’ll have everything in place to design your own LinkedIn profile. Working along with your peers in our private forum you’ll be able to gain valuable feedback on your draft from others who understand exactly what you’re trying to achieve.

Course benefits

what does the course include?

Unlimited access to 8 Online Training Modules (13 hours of content)

Lifetime access to Group Coaching Calls

Worksheets and Homeplay

Personalised Online Business Planner

Membership to the Inner Circle

By the end of the course you’ll have:

A step-by-step methodology that allows you to quickly win new clients

A roadmap that shows you exactly where you are in building your journey so you know what to focus on

A compelling Call-to-Action that has your prospects eager to speak to you

A sales script that allows you to stay in control of the conversation, explore your prospect’s issues and decide, together, if working together is the right solution

Has your non-ideal prospects and those that don’t sign up to your programme eager to your ideal prospects about you

Clarity on exactly where to focus your attention each day to get results and balance your time

A product eco-system that is allows your prospects to build a relationship with you in their own time, leaving you free to work with the clients that are ready

A LinkedIn content strategy that will open up an entirely new pool of prospects who previously weren’t looking for your solution

A strategy that will position you in the minds of your prospect as THE expert within your industry who they absolutely have to work with

A LinkedIn profile that builds rapport with your network, pitches your solution so everyone can understand, makes it easy for non-ideal prospects to refer you and ideal prospects to get in touch

who should attend?

Why do you need to take this course?

If you know that LinkedIn is a good place for you to promote your business but just not sure how

You struggle to know where to invest your time and what actions will result in the outcome you need

You know you have something unique and important to offer the world but just not sure how to package it and ask for what you’re worth

You recognise that having sales calls is an important part of your business but you feel unsure what to say and feel uncomfortable asking the buying question

You want to focus on your profession, what you love to do and you want to be great at it, and just want the best projects to come to you

Who is this course for?

People who are passionate about solving meaningful problems for their clients and are great at it

Those who have been battling this out for a while and are failing to get the traction they need

Those that are just starting out and want to build a business quickly avoiding some of the most common pitfalls

People who see a problem in the world that needs fixing and are adamant it needs fixing their way

Learning outcomes

What will you get from the course?

LinkedIn Strategy That Is Right For Your Business

It is all very well to know how to use LinkedIn but without a strategy, you’ll likely find yourself doing very little, or not enough of the right things. In order for LinkedIn to produce the results, you need to know exactly what you want from it and then choose the right actions to do consistently to achieve it. On this course, you’ll master the ‘how’ of LinkedIn while following a clear strategy designed for your business so you remember it and build your own confidence on the platform.

Clarity On Where To Invest Time To Get Results

Small businesses are all about spinning plates and knowing exactly where to invest your time at any given moment. You won’t always make the right call, but with the insights on this course and a renewed focus on your outcome, you’ll be on track more often than you’re not, ensuring you’re always on track to achieve your goals.

Have your name come up in all the right conversations

When you’re network understands the problem you solve and are able to easily refer you to ideal prospects, the cost of winning new business reduces dramatically. On this course, you’ll identify what it is you offer that sets you apart in your industry and how to articulate your value so people see you as the ‘go to’ expert and are always quick to recommend you at the mere mention of your topic or speciality.

Confidence Positioning Yourself And Establishing Your Personal Brand

Identifying the problem you solve for your marketplace and then standing behind it consistently can be a challenge in the early days before you build up a track record. In this course, we’ll look back over your career and life history to uncover the milestones that have shaped you, understand exactly what it is about you that makes you an ‘expert’ so you can easily articulate it when speaking to prospects and your network.

Understand Your Prospects Buying Journey

When we understand how people buy we understand how to respect a person’s decision-making process and match our behaviour. This isn’t about manipulating people but rather about helping people make the right decision for them, whether that means working with your or not. Together we’ll explore the psychology of how people buy and identify content you can create or curate that will not only position you as an expert to those looking for a solution but also open up an entirely new ocean of prospects that previously weren’t looking for your solution.

Structure For Your Content Marketing

We all know how powerful content marketing is, however, it is how we structure our articles and what we say that builds rapport with a prospect and has them begging to work with us. LinkedIn research has proven that if you do it right, 88% of people who engage with your content will go on to buy from you. The trick is to how you write the article and structure it. In this course, you’ll learn how to create this content so that it winning you new business as you while you focus on our delivering exceptional results for your paying clients.

Scripted Sales Session That Achieves Results

Scripts don’t just help us to know what to say and when, but they also help our prospect to know what to expect. With a good script that sets clear expectations and puts our prospect at ease, we can delve deeper into our prospects issues and allowing make the right very best recommendations for their situation. By focusing on adding value, you’ll make a raving fan out of each new sales call, so whether they buy from you or not, they recommend other people to you.

A Product Eco-System

Clear products and packages take the guesswork out of your day and make it easier for clients to understand exactly what you offer. Not only do they dramatically reduce the time it takes to achieve a sale, but they also provide prospects with clear and easy stepping-stones for getting to know you and your content. This allows you to filter out non-ideal prospects effortlessly so only the ones with the budget, need, authority and time to invest, get in touch.

Focused Sales Strategy With Clear Outcomes

Without a focused sales strategy we’ll have sporadic sales meetings that are inconclusive and time-consuming. By focusing on the outcome we are after, we can create targets and processes that ensure we’re always on track to achieving our goal.

Techniques To Get Started With

You’ll learn everything you need to know to execute your strategy using LinkedIn. All our advice is based on the free account and you won’t need to upgrade until you’ve proven your strategies work and are ready to ramp things up.

A Business Plan

As we complete the course we’ll be storing your answers in your very own Business Planner on GoogleDrive. Should you wish, you can share the document with me and invite me to comment on aspects of it.

course modules

Session 1: Creating the Road Map

In this session, we’ll build the foundation of your business by looking closely at your personal goals and how your business needs to be structured to achieve them.

In this module you will:

Establish (or review) your business goals both in terms of finance and lifestyle

Set clear outcomes for your business that feed directly into how you use LinkedIn

Identify the price of your core package and how many you need to be selling to achieve your goal

Understand the relationship between sales appointments and winning new business

Begin to recognise the journey your prospects take to first become interested in your solution and the make a purchase

Gain clarity on where to spend your time within your business and which actions lead to the right outcomes

Session 2: Structure for Profit

In this session, you’ll create a clear product structure that allows you to establish trust with your prospects by engaging them at price points they are comfortable with. As a result, you’ll be able to track prospects in your sales funnel and know exactly what actions to take next.

In this module you’ll:

Identify the big problem you solve and create a compelling package for clients

Identify how many clients you can serve at any one time to remain ‘balanced’ and able to deliver results at your best

Set the price for your main product to make sure you’re on track to achieve your annual income earning goal

Structure your ideal product in a clear and concise way so your prospects understand it and get excited about it

Build up the value of your core product so your price is appealing

Create a clear product eco-system that allows customers to build a relationship and get to know you before jumping in with you (that operates in the background with no further input from you)

Package your sales call so prospects actually want to show up

Session 3: Sales Appointments

A structured sales appointment is imperative if you want to engage your prospects and enrol the right ones as clients. In this session, we’ll be looking closely at how you ask for appointments. We’ll also show you how to structure the conversation so you’re in the right position to comfortably ask the buying questions.

In this module, you will:

Learn how to structure your sales calls so you glean the right information from your prospect so you can make the best recommendation for them

Receive a structured sales script for the beginning and end of your sales call that puts your prospects at ease and allows you to retain control of the conversation

Discover the key phrase that will make it easy to ask the buying question

Identify the key decision-makers within your sales process and how to appeal to them

Design your sales presentation so you pitch your solution perfectly each time

Session 4: Pitching Your Value

Often we’re too close to our own business to see the value we bring to our clients. In this session we’ll uncover exactly what you do and how to pitch it, so your prospects sit up and take notice.

In this module you will:

Delve deep into why you do what you do so you can easily articulate it and people naturally buy into you (including yourself)
Determine your niche (or unique problem you solve)
Identify the key moments within your story that have defined your career and helped you formulate the distinctions and expertise you now standby
Discover how to articulate what you do so you stand out in your marketplace and people take notice
Begin mapping out the past experience sections of your LinkedIn profile

Session 5: Understanding the Buying Cycle

Equipped with a clear product structure, a call to action (sales hook), and your pitch, we’ll uncover how your prospects buy and how best to structure your LinkedIn profile for maximum impact.

In this module you will:

Identify the 6 key audiences within your industry/business, who, if you get their attention, will become game changers for your business

Delve deep into what makes each of these players tick, and the keywords and phrases that will get their attention

Consider the psychology of how your prospects buy and what your LinkedIn profile needs to say to get their attention and keep it

Pull in the learnings uncovered in previous sessions and begin crafting your LinkedIn Summary and Current Experience

Session 6: Creating Content

In this session, we’ll be looking at the type of content to share with your audience, and how to structure your own content to match the buying cycle of your prospects and become the ‘go to’ place to learn about your topic.

In this module you will:

Learn how to create content your ideal prospects want to read

Position yourself as the ‘go to’ expert by sharing valuable insights that support your prospect on their buying journey

Awaken a host of new prospects that previously weren’t looking for your solution and haven’t your competitors haven’t yet identified

Write posts that meet your prospect where they are in their buying journey and instantly build rapport, filling your sales funnel with ideal prospects

Identify different types of posts to write, and how to structure them for maximum impact
Learn where to post different types of posts and when

Learn how to become a Thought-Leader by carefully balancing your feed with good content and what you say about it

Discover how to have an impact beyond counting Like, Comment, Share

Session 7: Managing and Engaging Leads

In this session, we’ll show you how to manage new invitations to connect and engage with prospects in such a way that you build your reputation and your sales funnel with highly qualified prospects.

In this module you will:

Learn how to really use LinkedIn to win new clients

Master how to respond to invitations, send personalised invites

Learn how to ask for sales appointments with new connections that feel natural

Determine how to send message campaigns that build rapport and deliver results

Discover how to make the most of offline networking

Discover how to research key decision-makers and make a genuine connection

Receive written instruction on all of the above plus template emails

Session 8: Bringing It All Together

Having identified the key elements of your profile in session 5, you’ll now have had 3 weeks to draft and review your profile and receive feedback. In this session, we’ll be setting the course for moving forward and bringing in the clients you want.

In this module, you will:

Identify the correct time frame to measure the results for you and your business

Know the exact number of sales appointments you need to attend to hit your earning target

You will receive a tracking sheet to monitor all of the above

Identify the right ways for you to find and approach your most ideal prospects

The trainer –
naomi johnson

Having started her business using LinkedIn, Naomi quickly shot to fame as a LinkedIn expert, writing LinkedIn profiles for business owners, thought-leaders, executives and sales teams.

Beginning her business with absolutely no notice, Naomi had to quickly establish her business to make her rent within two weeks. Applying the knowledge and skill accumulated over years of training other companies how to use LinkedIn and position themselves within their market, Naomi quickly became the ‘go to’ expert within her industry with her name coming up in all the right conversations. By her fourth month she was operating at full capacity and by month five, she won Oracle as a client.

Today, more than three years in, Naomi’s LinkedIn profile writing skills are in high demand as well as her expert knowledge for structuring businesses to position individuals who selling their expertise and time for money as the ‘go to’ expert within their industry.

Having reviewed and written hundreds of LinkedIn profiles while in conversation with the profile owner, Naomi noticed that most people’s businesses are not structured in a way that will allow them to easily win them business and meet their income targets. Having been in this position herself and writing her book Grassroots to Green Shoots in 2010, Naomi knows first hand the trouble this can cause and is on a mission to help others avoid the same fate.

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About us

The Expert Economy is part of TheProfile.Company. After years of reviewing LinkedIn profiles and then writing them for solo-entrepreneurs, Founder Naomi Johnson noticed that the majority of expert-led business didn't have the structures in place to enable prospects to come to the business pre-sold and ready to buy. Instead, these experts were getting tired and frustrated with the lack of results and wasting precious resources. Naomi birthed The Expert Economy to solve this problem once and for all.